


headcanon tag fic(let)s

by janie_tangerine



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Birthday Fluff, Birthday Party, Childbirth, Christmas, Christmas Fluff, Family Feels, Gen, Happy Starks, Multi, Requited Love, Robb Stark is a Gift, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-25
Updated: 2018-12-25
Packaged: 2019-09-14 22:56:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 11,434
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16922019
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/janie_tangerine/pseuds/janie_tangerine
Summary: in which I repost fics of various length that I posted on tumblr based on a specific modern 'verse that was discussed with one or more anons on my tumblr a while ago.Premise: Jon is still R+L but went to live with the Starks around five-ish after both his parents pretty much realized they bit off more than they could chew. Features extra Jon Connington being the responsible adult, Robb being a gift, the Tullys being fairly great people and so on.Specific ficlets:1) jon connington comes clean with rhaegar about his feelings in a way he hadn't predicted;2) jon c. finds out that rhaegar named his kid after him;3) robb is *extremely* invested in making sure jon's first birthday party turns out great (ned/cat, robb & jon);4) robb takes his brotherly duties with jon very seriously, good for everyone involved;5) jon's first christmas with the starks *and* tullys;6) how jon c. and brynden tully get together in this 'verse and realize they're actually perfect for each other;7) jon (snow) and ygritte have their first child... who looks like rhaegar, GENETICS!.





	1. jonc/r (unrequited): jon comes clean about his feelings, it goes exactly how he expected

**Author's Note:**

> OKAY SO, this is one of the things I had never reposted from tumblr - I basically spent MONTHS with an anon on tumblr discussing this specific verse which we dubbed [headcanon tag](http://janiedean.tumblr.com/tagged/headcanon+tag/page/36) which you're better off browsing from the last page because at some point I started using it wrong, but NEVER MIND MOST OF IT IS THERE, and I occasionally wrote ficlets based on it for prompts or memes and so on, and since I never reposted them here AND one of them was Christmas themed and my two last exchange fics aren't *quite* done and I wanted to post something on Christmas..... here you go have some random assortment of fluff. Have fun.
> 
> Of course nothing in here is mine whatsoever as usual and I'll saunter vaguely back downwards now. u_u

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally written for a meme on tumblr which required writing people saying *I love you* in different circumstances; this one was, _In a way I can’t return_. I originally wrote it after the ones with robb and jon later but since I'm going chronologically for reposting these... here you go. XD

“ _Congratulations_? Is that all?”

Rhaegar had expected - more of a reaction. To be honest, a part of him had expected to Jon to just ask him  _what the fuck was he thinking_  as everyone else has asked him until now, and maybe he has gone and told him last also because the other part knew that Jon is the kind of guy who will not make you feel like shit about something that everyone else has made you feel like shit about. But the moment he had told him, Jon had just - given him a  _look_ , went about as stiff as a granite stone and muttered a  _congratulations_  that Rhaegar’s pretty sure he doesn’t mean.

“What else should I even say?” Jon sighs. “I’m fairly sure everyone else has told you that having kids when you’re  _nineteen_  and the other person’s seventeen is not an exactly great idea, so you don’t need me to explain you how it’s a bad idea. If you think you can handle it fine, it’s your business. And I’m going to help out if you need that, of course, but - can I just  _not_  pretend to be happy about it for once?”

“ _For once_? Sorry, what have you exactly been  _pretending_  about?”

“Never mind that, it’s really nothing -”

“Actually it  _is_. How about you tell me? Because we’ve known each other for how long -”

“Fourteen years,” Jon interrupts him. “And - listen, fine, fuck this noise, I guess that it was going to happen at some point. First, though - just - Rhaegar, I  _know_  what you’re going to answer. It’s okay. I’ve made peace with it for a long time.”

“You have done  _what_?”

“Rhaegar, fuck’s sake, I think about  _everyone_  else figured me out a long time ago, but - I’ve been in love with you since I was thirteen, okay? Actually maybe longer but that was when I realized it. I know you don’t feel the same, I  _know_  you aren’t even into men and I’m not expecting you to prove me wrong, but for the love of - can I just  _not_  pretend to be happy about this?”

For a moment, Rhaegar doesn’t know what the hell he should say. Suddenly, a  _lot_  of things seem a lot clearer, and actually it  _does_  make sense if he thinks about it, and and and  _and_  -

“Wait,” Rhaegar said, suddenly feeling horrified, “but - we made out that one time when we were fifteen. When I was drunk at Oberyn’s party -”

“We did,” Jon sighs, not looking at him in the eye.

“And -  _shit_ , but wasn’t that other time where I got drunk  _again_  and made out with Arthur in front of you -”

“That might have happened,” Jon says, still not looking at him.

“And you’re saying that - all that time - you’ve been -”

“ _Yes_ ,” Jon cuts him. “Can we just - listen, I don’t want it to make things awkward, okay? I know you’re not into men unless you’re drunk, I guess. I know you’re not into  _me_. I’ll get over it at some point. It doesn’t have to mean anything on your part.”

“Shit, I’m an asshole,” Rhaegar just says, because it’s  _true_ , he’s been a goddamned one, fuck he  _kissed another guy in front of him when Jon was -_  and then Jon shakes his head, moves closer and puts a hand on his shoulder, very tentatively.

“Rhaegar, as stated, I  _love_  you, even if  _that_  might have been fairly shitty. But I never told you, how were you supposed to know? Now, really, you don’t have to say it. I  _know_  and it’s fine. Just - now I’m going to leave and I’m going to go home and tomorrow you’ll call me and - we’ll know that it’s out in the open but we’ll go ahead exactly as we’ve done until now, because I  _can_  keep things separated and I  _can_  be your friend even knowing that you can’t say it back. I don’t mind. I haven’t minded this long and I’d be a selfish idiot if I asked otherwise. But you can’t ask me to be happy about that for  _now_.”

“No. No, of course not,” Rhaegar says, figuring that he owes Jon at least  _that_. “I’m not. You also can - like - not be happy about it ever, I mean -”

“I want  _you_  to be happy. If that’s what you know will do it then who cares about everything else. I’d like to think I’m  _not_  that kind of asshole. And - I’m just - I’m going to leave, if -”

“Of course. Sure. I’ll - I’ll call you tomorrow?”

“I’m counting on it,” Jon says, squeezing his shoulder just a tiny bit, and then he just - grabs his jacket and gets out of the door.

Rhaegar wants to kick himself for not having realized sooner - Christ, Jon  _did_  tell him he was gay when they were barely into high school and he  _had_  looked fairly relieved when Rhaegar had said that it didn’t change anything, but now that he’s thinking about  _everything_  he might have missed -

Well, damn, he really needs to find a way to make that up to Jon because he  _really_ , really didn’t deserve any of that shit. Not including that Rhaegar’s had a  _whole damned lot_  of girlfriends through the years, and how must he have felt?

He swallows, wishing for a moment that he could have said  _anything else_  (but he couldn’t, because he  _does_  love Jon but -  _not like that_  and he’s never even looked at a guy twice in that sense even if he’s made out with some of them - while drunk - and it would just be dishonest to do such a thing).

That was -  _definitely_  not what he had expected, indeed.


	2. jonc/r (still unrequited), jon finds out how rhaegar named his kid

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was written for _Can I prompt a sequel of that JonCon confesses his feeling for R? Like may be a few days later R goes to Jon and bring Jon to him. Bonus if JonC thought Jon is going to be named after Arthur Dayne or sth Targaryen and teasing R that Jon looks nothing like him._. SEQUEL TO THE ANGST FROM BEFORE! HAVE FUN!

Jon had considered going to see Lyanna in the hospital, but then he’s heard what Oberyn had to say about it and sincerely - well. There’s the awkward fact that he’s in love with the guy she’s with  _and_  whose baby she just had. If it’s true that she doesn’t really seem to look forward to mother said kid or that she’s saying that she doesn’t know she can handle it (well, she’s  _seventeen_ , one would think..) then Jon showing up and congratulating her on it would’ve been just - all kinds of wrong. So he didn’t.

He did call Rhaegar, of course, and offered his heartfelt congratulations. He had asked if they decided the name and Rhaegar had said no, after all they hadn’t known if it would have been a boy or a girl until the baby was born, so they hadn’t one ready. That had been about it. They had agreed on seeing each other as soon as possible. That had been it.

That’s it until Rhaegar calls saying he’d like to drop by in the afternoon. Jon says of course and waits for him and Rhaegar does indeed show up on time - Jon tries not to take notice of how kind of maybe radiant he looks when he opens the door and finds him standing there with the infamous baby in his arms.

Jon really, really should get over him already.

“Hey,” he says, letting him in, “I see everything’s gone fine, has it? Sorry if I didn’t visit but -”

“Don’t worry, I get it,” Rhaegar says. “Lyanna barely even wanted her own family there, what can you do.”

“So, can I see your infamous kid already or what?”

“Sure you can,” Rhaegar says, and good thing Jon was ready for it because you don’t just  _drop babies into someone else’s arms_ , but then again he doubts Rhaegar has much experience with babies in general. He’ll learn, Jon figures.

Then he looks down at said baby for the first time. He’s maybe a bit smaller than usual for not being premature, and he doesn’t look like Rhaegar  _at all_. Actually, he’s  _all_  Stark - black hair, grey eyes, pale skin, and he kind of looks a bit solemn in the way a  _baby_  can look. Then again, he has barely even made a noise since Rhaegar came in and he’s just looking up at Jon with those  _huge_  grey eyes and - all right.

“Well,” Jon says, “the jury says your baby’s  _adorable_ , even if he doesn’t look like you at all. Too bad all that silver hair and violet eyes are recessive, huh?”

“You’re  _hilarious_ , but what can one do. Good to know my offspring is as  _adorable_  as one would hope.”

“Right, and what’s his name? I hope you picked one by now.”

“I did. Well, Lyanna didn’t object, so - yeah. I’m going to the office to register it next thing.”

“Haven’t you already?”

“Not yet.”

“How mysterious. Well, what’s it already?” Jon honestly expects something - familiar. With all the great-grandfathers Rhaegar could name a kid for, he has an endless list. Never mind that Aerys would get  _pissed_  if Rhaegar’s firstborn didn’t have a Targaryen first name, if it can’t be his. Admittedly, Rhaegar had mentioned hating the prospect but if not that then he must have named him for Arthur or something, it’d just make sense.

Rhaegar moves a bit closer and looks at him straight. “Jon,” he says.

“Yes?”

“… yeah, that’d be  _his_  name, I wasn’t telling  _you_  anything specifically.”

For a moment, Jon thinks about Stark family names - there’s no way Rhaegar was related to anyone named like that. But he doesn’t think he’s ever known a Jon in that camp either, which means -

“Wait, you mean -”

“Yes, I mean like  _you_. For being a usually smart person and for having the excellent taste in bands that you do, you’re being slow on the uptake today.”

“Wait,  _wait_ , are you just saying that you -”

Rhaegar puts a hand on Jon’s shoulder. He almost feels as if it burns under his fingers.

“Jon, I’m saying that I had my reasons, and  _yes_ , I named my kid after you because it’s the least you deserved after dealing with my shit for  _years_  never mind how horribly insensitive I’ve been with you for those same years.”

“You know that I’m not doing anything I don’t want to -”

“Jon, I  _know_. And I’d like to put that name on the birth certificate, if you’re not against it.”

Jon almost cradles the poor kid closer out of an automatic reaction. “Of course not! I mean, I’d be flattered beyond reasoning if -”

“Then good, I’m going to the office as soon as we leave. Actually, I could go  _now_  and come back later, if you’re up for babysitting… for half an hour.”

“Well, sure, I am but -”

“Great, then see you in thirty. I’m sure I’ll be quick.”

He squeezes Jon’s shoulder and sends him one of those looks that Jon’s gotten a lot lately and that means  _I’m sorry I can’t ever reciprocate your feelings the way you’d like me to_ , and then he leaves the bag he had with him on the sofa and goes outside to find his motorcycle.

Jon is left there with his future namesake still looking up at him and barely even making any noise.

“Damn,” he says under his breath, “I shouldn’t thank Rhaegar for the responsibility, but - well, guess what, I think I just might. Aren’t you cute.  _Jon_.” Of course he gets no answer, but when he moves his hand a bit higher to support the baby’s back better, tiny fingers grip around one of his own and for a moment he thinks his chest just swells in happiness.

That’s the proof he’s most probably fucked in  _all_  the ways, but he already knows that while he can’t certainly be what he’d like to be to Rhaegar he’s going to do right by this kid if it kills him and it’s nowhere near half as terrifying as one could imagine.


	3. robb & jon, ned/cat: jon's first birthday with the starks

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was WHAT ORIGINALLY STARTED THE ENTIRE SHEBANG: the prompt was _I imagine in a modern au Jon was R+L child and they were like 16 when he was born and R was super selfish and shit and Jon's birthday was never celebrated or sth and like R never even said HAPPY birthday to Jon and Robb heard about it and told Cat and Ned that they have to throw the party of the century for Jon but then sth didn't work out perfectly and Robb got upset because the party wasn't perfect but for Jon it was and basically Jon hugging Robb and being like "It was perfect Robb"_. IM A SAP. Have some fluff.

When, after he and Cat took the decision, Ned had gone to his firstborn to deliver the news, he  _hadn’t_  thought Robb would take it badly. Never mind that Robb is about the sweetest kid they could have asked for so he  _wouldn’t_  have just because of that, Ned figures, but he had still been worrying some because one thing is telling said firstborn that they’re getting a little brother or sister in nine months, another is a redacted version of explaining him  _your_  own little sister’s life choices that have ended up with Ned and Cat deciding to take  _her_  son in before the poor kid ends up with permanent trauma out of growing up with Aerys Targaryen as the only stable presence of some relative in his life. They had been hoping that he’d take it well if only because while Robb positively adores Sansa he  _had_  been fairly disappointed when learning he wasn’t getting a little  _brother_ , and it looks like he might be going to be disappointed twice unless Cat’s last ultrasound isn’t accurate.

On that, they had been right enough - when they sat down and had that conversation Robb had about punched the air, said he couldn’t wait, declared himself amenable to share his room if there was the need (there wasn’t, they have space enough at least), asked when was Jon moving in and had shrugged when they said sometime in the next week before adding that he wouldn’t have minded it being earlier.

Ned thinks he’s going to be very disappointed if ten years from now on his son isn’t some kind of well-known figure for every charity in the neighborhood considering how much he cares for other people, but that’s neither here nor there. Anyway, he and Cat had taken a relieved breath after Robb had left for his usual football game with that kid from the upper floor who’s somehow  _always_  in the courtyard (Theon? Ned thinks that was the name) - though Ned doesn’t really blame him for that considering what hand he drew when talking about shitty families -, and they had figured that it couldn’t possibly go as wrong as they’ve been told by almost everyone involved in the procedure. (Social workers included, but he’s fairly sure Aerys is bribing them out of principle, it’s not like he could give two shits regardless.)

Now that Robb’s in front of him looking like he  _could_  put the fear of God into Aerys if only he had the chance, he decides that it went even  _better_  than he ever hoped it could.

(To be entirely honest he had needed a moment when after they did bring Jon over and Robb’s way of introducing himself was squeezing the life out of the poor kid it took Jon about ten seconds to get on with the memo and returning the gesture.)

“Dad, you  _didn’t_  know, did you?”

“I think you need to be a bit more specific about it.  _What_  shouldn’t I know?”

Robb closes the kitchen door and comes closer to his chair, where Ned is having his morning coffee - actually, why is Robb even up at this ungodly hour on a Saturday? Maybe he was hoping no one would overhear them.

“Dacey’s invited me to her birthday party yesterday.”

“Well, she does that every year? Is something the matter?”

“ _No_ , but - I was with Jon in the yard and then she left and he said he never had one.  _That’_ s the matter!”

Robb does sound outraged, bless him.

(Ned thinks about the words that flew during the only time he actually met Aerys to discuss the issue. He shudders.)

“I didn’t know,” Ned assures him. And he didn’t, for that matter, though he can imagine that. “His - I think his grandfather has  _ideas_  about that kind of thing.”

“So that’s why he never talks about it,” Robb decides, before going back on track. “Well, who cares. We’re throwing him one,  _right_?” Robb asks the question as if he  _knows_  there’s no way they won’t, but still, if he should get a negative answer he wouldn’t be pleased whatsoever. “I mean, it’s one month from now, there’s time but -”

Ned can’t help it and laughs with as much good humor as he can muster up when he’s still thinking about that conversation with Aerys.

(Sometimes he thinks it’s a miracle that after five years in  _that_  situation Jon turned out to be  _that_  nice and not the kind of kid you send to a children’s psychiatrist.)

“Tell you what,” Ned says, “of course we were going to do it, but how about you help us with it? I mean, I’m sure you’d know what he’d want more than we do anyway.”

(And not just because they’re a year apart. Mostly because while Jon  _in theory_  has his own room he’s used it for about two weeks and then he has stopped pretending he doesn’t sneak into Robb’s after the lights go out. When they asked and he said that it was nice to have someone else in the room after spending five years on his own in one of those medieval rooms in Targaryen manor they hadn’t even tried to discourage it.)

Robb had about gone from full of righteous rage to downright excited, and it had taken him a week to come up to him and Cat with a fairly neat and specific list of what they  _had_  to have. Including - apparently - Batman paper plates, but Ned figures that it’s hardly a problem now. Actually it’s so sweet he thinks his two last wisdom teeth might rot for good after this stunt.

“Well,” Cat says, looking at the list after Robb goes back to either doing his homework or keep trying in his for now unsuccessful quest of getting Jon and Theon to make friends  _seriously_ , “I’m fairly sure Lysa is going to have a heart attack when she sees it.”

She’s kind of maybe gloating as she says it but Ned can understand why, Cat’s sister hadn’t really been  _that_  big on their decision - never mind that she’s never exactly been big on  _Ned_  himself, though it’s not his fault if he met Cat through his asshole of an older brother who is now traveling the world who knows where.

“So, are we looking for  _Batman_  paper plates this afternoon?” He jokes, his hand going to Cat’s swollen stomach.

“I suppose we are. And we should also find a bakery, considering how big he specified this cake is supposed to be, even if I could pull that off it’d never fit the oven.”

A good point, Ned had conceded.

So they had followed the list - after all, it was nothing that they couldn’t handle or with overcomplicated requests. They did find the right paper plates, bought everything else in the colors they were told (red and blue, it specified), since Robb had specified that if the weather was good it should have been outside they go to the building administrator and try to get him to agree to hold it on the roof if he’s amenable (he is, thankfully, but he also thinks they’re the best tenants in the entire place), Cat finds a bakery where they order a cake that might feed thirty people (chocolate, the instructions had said, underlined thrice), they had left the invites to Robb figuring that  _he’_ d know better than them - they’d have just invited whoever’s in the same class as Jon as you’d do back when they were the ones who’d have birthday parties thrown for them, but they’re not sure that he’s made  _that_  many friends so better let Robb deal with it.

Robb, who is nothing but not efficient when the topic is brought up, shows up a week from the party with some twelve names - half is Theon, Dacey and a few other of the kids they interact with daily in the yard, the other half are three others from Jon’s class (Pyp, Grenn and Satin - what weird names do people give their children these days, Ned wonders), and the other three (Ygritte, Sam and Gilly) are actually from  _Robb’_ s class, and Ned had always thought that they weren’t  _that_  close, but Robb just shrugged and said that they all made friends during recess regardless of the year gap. Good enough, Ned thinks - at least everyone can have two portions of cake.

He’s also kind of moved that Robb uses pretty much all of two months’ allowance that he saved up because he doesn’t really spend most of it to buy his present and he had  _absolutely_  not let them know or pay for it. 

 _Now_ , though, with the day having come and all, Ned is  _really_  glad that Cat is filming half of what’s going on. Not just because the look on Jon’s face when Robb brought him to the roof without him having suspected anything was downright precious (the subsequent ‘well, no one really did that kind of thing back at the manor’ when Cat asked Jon why he hadn’t wondered why no one had been wishing him happy birthday before three in the afternoon hadn’t been, and Ned had decided that maybe Robb also could be a passable actor since he had managed to stop seething the moment Jon looked at him again, so he didn’t notice that), but because the scene transpiring just now is transcending that realm.

As in, everything had gone great until the cake was brought out, and it turned out that someone managed to misspell the name - It reads  _John_ , not Jon. Jon just looks at it, laughs and blows out his candles at once, but Robb just  _stares_  at it as if the cake has personally offended him and doesn’t quite manage to go back to pretending everything’s peachy just after. He keeps on staring at it murderously even as he eats his piece - actually, he about stabs it with his red plastic fork until Jon - who has finished his own - puts his empty plate down on one of the tables and goes asking.

“Is there something wrong?” He sounds fairly concerned, but then again Robb isn’t trying to not look pissed off. (Ned sees Theon snorting to himself in the corner and he has to agree with that - it  _is_  adorable.)

Robb shrugs. “They spelled the name wrong,” he says, stabbing at his poor cake again.

“Oh, that?” Jon shrugs. “It’s okay. Who cares, it happens?”

“But it  _wasn’t_  supposed to be spelled wrong,” Robb goes on. “I can’t believe they couldn’t just  _ask_  before going with it. ‘M sorry, I really wanted it to be -”

“Robb?” Jon cuts him, taking pity on him most probably.

“Yes?” Robb puts away his half-eaten cake on the nearby table, probably figuring from the tone that they should be  _talking_  about something serious.

Ned is  _really_  glad that Cat is in fact filming it as Jon grabs Robb by the shoulders, hauls him in and tells him to stop being an idiot and that it  _was_  really perfect regardless of whatever was written on the cake and to please stop torturing that poor cake. He’s  _definitely_  saving this for future blackmail material when they’re teenagers (or for remembering the times when they didn’t give them heart attacks ten years from now).

At least Robb does seem moderately calmed down, even though Ned can guess that he’s never going to want anything from that bakery at any point in his life.

Cat sits down next to him not long later, her now free hand finding his. “Well,” she says, “I think that all things considered, we were too cautious about how those two would take to each other, weren’t we?”

“Can’t disagree with that,” Ned echoes the sentiment, and if there’s something making his eyes water he’s just going to ignore it for the moment.


	4. robb & jon, robb takes his brotherly duties VERY seriously

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THIS WAS NUMBER TWO because I asked clarifications about what anon would have liked to see from this AU and it specified, among stuff that I put in the previous prompt, _also Jon was being neglected by R and L they weren't abusive they just neglected him to live like teenagers party and stuff and basically everytime R sees Jon he treats him like a brother and not a father and maybe Robb has prepared a Batman figurine for Jon(because he's brooding)turns out Jon prefers Marvel and Spiderman but Jon doesn't care, just laughs and smiles_. HAVE FUN IT'S EVEN SAPPIER.

There are a lot of things Robb has given up on understanding at any point in his life. One of them is  _how_  someone (his aunt) related to his father (who is the most sensible and reliable person Robb has ever met, and he’s not biased because it’s  _his father_ , it’s the truth) managed to fall for  _Jon’s_ father when he’s just - it’s not that he’s not  _attractive_ , because Robb figures that he is. It’s not that he’d know anything about that, but he’s tall, has that long nicely kept silver hair and uncommon violet eyes, while Robb is pretty sure that he’d never in his life find that combination cute on a woman never mind a man maybe he has his charm. It’s not that he’s a  _bad_  guy, because the three times he’s shown up since Jon came to live with them - well, it’s not that he was  _terrible_  or anything. But he’s pretty sure that if you’re supposed to be someone’s parent you shouldn’t just suggest doing cool stuff or going to the movies or pretty much  _just_  that kind of thing. To be honest he behaves more like Asha does around Theon, except that at fourteen Asha’s probably more responsible.

(Or at least, she has come to him asking if Theon can stay the night over so she can clean around the house and stuff and so that he gets a break from his dick of a father, never let it be known to his mother that that’s how Robb thinks of him anyway, and while Theon at  _ten_  cooks better than she does at fourteen and she’s terrible at showing that she actually cares - well, he remembers that time she found out he skipped school and the next day she pretty much dragged him personally before going to her own classes.  _That_  is definitely more than he’s ever seen Jon’s father do as far as Robb’s concerned. Or Jon’s mother, but the only time he’s seen her she basically looked completely uncomfortable with parenting in general, so he figures that it’s not why she’s not really trying too hard to stick around just in case.)

Fact is, Rhaegar  _did_  show up a few days ago because they hadn’t seen each other in that long and maybe they could go do  _something_  supposedly cool that Robb hadn’t really grasped because Jon had blurted something about maybe another time because he had a ton of homework. Rhaegar had answered something else about it maybe being able to wait, surely it wasn’t anything that urgent. Jon had looked about as excited at the prospect as one would be at the prospect of drinking half a bottle of cod liver oil. Robb hadn’t even known what to do because the last thing he wants is any relative of Jon’s on  _the other_  side to get strange ideas. Then Theon saved their hide because he showed up saying that too bad but he was supposed to go over maths homework with the both of them and he couldn’t any other day of the week (which was bullshit, he  _could_  about whenever, but neither of them said that of course).

(Later, when Jon had thanked him, he just shrugged and said he knew a thing or ten about wanting to get away from your dad and left it there.)

Since then, Jon has just - sulked more than usual. Which is something Robb doesn’t begrudge him, not when he knows enough about where he comes from, but he hadn’t done it since the birthday party and Robb had been really happy to see that. Now he kind of resents Rhaegar some more, but never mind,

Which is why he has taken a bit more of money from his leftover allowance, it’s not as if he spends it on anything but occasional comic books anyway, and taken a trip to the nearest toy store. It was enough for a fairly decent Batman action figure, nothing fancy but it’d do - not that Jon ever  _told_  him he’s into Batman, but he basically just wears black and grey all the time, he  _has_  to, right?

Robb gets back home, his plastic bag in his hand, and knocks on Jon’s door - actually, it’s worrying he’s even  _in_  his room, he’s usually in Robb’s whenever Theon’s not around and Robb is perfectly fine with it.

“Yes?” Jon asks. Robb doesn’t even know why he answers like  _that_  - if someone knocked on his door he’d probably just ask who it was.

“It’s me,” he says, “can I get in?”

“Sure.”

Well, that’s done at least. He walks inside, not even sure of how he’ll breach the subject -

Until his eyes fall on the comic book Jon was reading.

And on the small pile of similarly titled comics on the nightstand.

“Wait, you like  _Spiderman_?” He asks, aware that it wasn’t exactly what he should have started with.

“Yes?” Jon replies tentatively. “I mean, those,” he nods towards the comics on the nightstand, “I had back at the manor. One of the maids got them for me because she thought I - uh,  _needed more suited reading material_. Or something. Sam just lent me the last issue. Why?”

“So - he’s your favorite?”

“Yeah, but - Robb, what’s the matter?”

“… Er, uh, I thought it’d cheer you up?” Robb says sheepishly, handing Jon the bag. “I can see if I can change it maybe? If I knew -”

Jon takes the action figure out of the bag, his eyes going slightly wide - he obviously wasn’t expecting it.

“Really,” Robb keeps on, “you don’t have to keep it if you don’t want it, I just thought that since you always dress with black or grey stuff you’d like -”

“Robb, you’re  _not_  taking it back,” Jon thankfully interrupts him, good because it was starting to get embarrassing, and - wait, he’s laughing? At least it worked, Robb figures.

“No?”

“ _No_. You can just forget it.”

“… Okay then,” Robb laughs back, “then again, guess I should’ve known.”

“What?”

“That  _my_  brother couldn’t have been that lame. I mean, the best’s Captain America anyway, but Spiderman beats Batman anyway.”

(Later, when they’re sharing Robb’s bed all over again, he’ll learn that Jon mostly dresses in terribly depressing colors because it’s the exact contrary of what people wear around Targaryen manor and it’s going to make perfect sense to him. Or at least, he can’t fault Jon for that at all.)

Jon bursts out laughing. Robb decides it was a win.


	5. jon's first christmas with the starks (cat & jon, edmure & jon, various others)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was written last year when another anon who caught up on all the shebang asked for _Modernau Jon's first Christmas with the Starks was wonderful in several ways - there were presents and the food was so good and noone screamed - but the thing he remembers most is Edmure. At this point Edmure had never actually met Jon before, but he knew Cat adopted another six year old boy. When he came over for the holidays he brought Jon a present, and had even called first to find out Jon's interests. Jon nearly cried because it really hammered that he was part of their family now._ I'm putting my hands forward my christmas spirit has been like below zero since 2012 or around there and I'm atheist but I think Cat wouldn't be so the part where she goes to church is probably wrong but give me a respite, I tried. HAVE THE WORST TOOTH-ROTTING FLUFF EVER BYE.

“So,” Ned asks, “I suppose your sister isn’t coming?”

Cat shakes her head. “She categorically said no.”

“Shit. Guess Jon - Arryn I mean, wasn’t convincing, was he?”

“No, and of course she’s using the  _someone has to stay with Dad_  excuse to make me feel guilty for inviting my uncle, but never mind that. At some point she’ll come around. Lyanna is  _not_  coming either, is she?”

Ned shakes his head. “I tried to convince her but she was about to hang up the phone on me, so I didn’t insist.”

Well, so much for trying to get everyone together, Cat sighs.

“Rhaegar isn’t even in the country, is he?”

“No, but he sent me money for  _presents_ ,” Ned sighs. “Shit, they really were too young for that. Whatever, as my father said, better a few good people than a lot of drama when it comes to festivities. So, who is coming at the end of it?”

“Well, there’s the five of us, my uncle and my brother. When it comes to  _your_ , Brandon gently declined when I went to ask him a couple of days ago but gave me some money so  _I’d buy the kids something I knew they liked_  -”

“ _Typical_ ,” Ned sighs. “Then again, he’s always hated gift giving even when he was  _ten_  so I’m not surprised.”

“Benjen instead  _is_  coming. Jon Connington is as well, bless him for at least providing  _some_  continuity here.”

“Rhaegar so  _doesn’t_  deserve him,” Ned says, “but it’s not as if saying it out loud will change anything. Right. So, it’s… nine people. Guess it could be worse.”

“If you want to invite Robert -”

“Cat, I  _love_  Robert but traumatizing that poor kid any further on Christmas day the first time he spends it without Aerys? Maybe next year.”

“… fair,” Cat agrees, remembering the last Christmas they invited Robert over. It was  _great_ , and they all were spectacularly drunk at the end of it, and it was the one time Robb was sick and went to bed at seven PM and woke up the next day, and she wasn’t pregnant with Sansa yet so she could afford to be drunk on Christmas.

Maybe next year, indeed. And nine people isn’t too bad. She just hopes they have a nice time, especially given that the more Christmas approaches the less Jon seems enthused about that prospect, and from what Jon Connington told her about Christmas At Aerys Targaryen’s, he has all the reasons to dread the day. But telling him wouldn’t work, she has realized, and so she just hopes he can see for himself that they’re not into screaming matches on  _Christmas day_ , for crying out loud.

–-

The next day, Edmure calls her.

For a moment, she’s afraid he might cancel.

Instead, he asks her for confirmation that Robb doesn’t own whatever Star Wars t-shirt Edmure wants to get him.

“No,” Cat says, “he  _definitely_  has nothing of the sort.”

“Oh, great. And I was wondering, what does Jon like?”

… Cat had  _not_  expected that question, but then again maybe because Jon didn’t ask them for anything and when Ned pressed he insisted he didn’t want a present,  _really_ , and then they had to ask Robb to find out what he might actually want.

“Robb is the only person who actually has a clue of what that kid likes,” Cat sighs, “he wouldn’t tell any of us. I mean, I’m fairly sure he likes Rhaegar’s fairly terrible music, but I’d rather not go there.”

“What does he even like?”

“Grunge,” Cat sighs. “Just don’t. That said, er, he’s actually… I mean, he definitely likes dark colors and he most wears black and gray because  _he likes it_ , Robb confirmed me he’s  _kind of_  not into Disney in the sense that he goes along with it because  _Robb_  likes those movies and the only book he had with when he got here was… some collection of Irish fairytales. I checked and it’s all… sort of depressing, I guess?”

“As in what, kidnapped children everywhere and so on?”

“Yes, but it’s almost falling apart. I think he  _does_  like it a lot.”

“Hm, so dark aesthetic and depressing fairytales?”

“Pretty much.”

“And what are you getting him?”

“New clothes. Or better, most stuff he had was either too small or too large so we’re just getting him new pjs and some other things like that.”

“All black?”

“So it seems,” she shrugs.

“I think I have an idea or two,” Edmure says, and - well. Maybe  _he_  would, Catelyn says. He’s barely twenty, after all, and she can barely keep along with Robb and Sansa’s specific interests - maybe he knows more than both Ned and her.

“Good,” Cat tells him. “Don’t show up late.”

“I hope not,” he says.

-–

Pregnant or not, Cat is  _not_  going to slouch and good thing Ned can follow instructions and bend over to place food into the oven when he can’t cook something himself. They organized things so that on Christmas Eve Jon, Sansa and Robb would spend the day at her uncle’s so they could cook without kids running all over the place, and then Jon Connington was going to bring them over for dinner while her uncle goes to get Edmure at the airport, and it went splendidly. There’s enough food to feed all of them  _twice_ , an acceptable amount of alcohol, they have all the presents ready and stashed in the storage room and by the time Benjen arrives before everyone else with wine and his bag of presents, too, they stash them there as well.

“Robb and Sansa -” he starts.

“Still haven’t figured out Santa isn’t real?” Ned laughs. “No. I think Jon never actually bought that in the first place but he swore left and right he was going to go along with it.”

“You know his father’s family completely fucked up?”

“ _Don’t you tell me,”_ Ned groans.

Cat can only echo the sentiment.

-–

Jon Connington and the kids arrive just before her uncle and Edmure, who hands her a backpack telling her to put it into the storage room - sneaky, no one would have thought there were presents inside it since after all he could have had clothes in there. He introduces himself to Jon Connington, they never met before after all, and at that point Cat notices that Jon is kind of staying somewhere behind Robb and purposefully not getting in the way of anyone else he doesn’t know.

She’s about to see if she has to do something about it but then thankfully Robb does that and introduces Jon to Edmure as well with a very nonchalant  _you met the first Jon you should also meet the one who lives with us_. 

Cat kind of feels horrible at how  _politely_  Jon introduces himself when Robb never even knew the meaning of the word, but Edmure seems to have him figured out and doesn’t press or tries to make conversation at all costs. Which Jon seems to appreciate, which makes Cat relieved because in theory he’s sitting in between Edmure and Robb (she had thought to sit him next to Robb and Jon Connington so he’d feel more at ease, but then  _both_  Robb and Jon said that absolutely  _not_ , the  _other_  Jon had to sit with Cat’s uncle because they totally liked each other - Cat had completely missed that development but if they seem so sure of it far from her to discourage it), so if they get along it’s good.

Jon also looks completely flabbergasted at seeing how much food they have on there. He also seems about to protest when she tells him to just help himself to whatever. The  _other_  Jon about flinches at the sight.

She figures she’ll ask later.

–-

After a while, Jon  _does_  seem to get that no one will have his hide for getting more of the alcohol-less plum pudding she made specifically for herself, him, Robb and Sansa (no one else would want it anyway so it’s not like they have much concurrence). But he  _also_  seems to look at all of them as if they’re aliens whenever Robb or Edmure aren’t talking to him (Sansa’s sprawling all over her lap at this point so she’s not too interested in whatever the other kids are doing), and Cat would really like to know  _what’s the point_ , except that -

“Cat?” Jon Connington whispers, leaning against her side.

“Yes?”

“If you’re wondering what’s  _his_  problem, let’s just say Christmas Eve dinner at Aerys’s is a screaming match from beginning to end.”

“ _What_ ,” she whispers.

“I’ve been twice. Rhaegar always managed to excuse himself halfway through and ran off somewhere else, but no one else could.”

“…  _never mind_ ,” Cat says, entirely understanding the point now.

Of course he’d think they were all aliens when instead they’re just… being  _normal people_ , she supposes.

At this point she figures she’ll just play along and let him figure that out for himself.

–-

Later, she excuses herself to head for midnight mass with Sansa who insists to come with her - Ned doesn’t really practice so she doesn’t drag him along, her brother doesn’t either and her uncle’s  _definitely_  landed on agnosticism a long time ago but they’re  _adults_  and it’s nothing that they ever argued about. If they ever want to come, the door’s open. Meanwhile she already feels herself smile as she takes her place and sings her lungs out, and by the time she leaves she feels lighter  _and_  she’s prayed for things to go over well next year, and she hopes someone’s hearing her.

But considering how it went until now,  _maybe_  someone is.

–-

When she comes back, both Robb and Jon are dead to the world (in Robb’s room of course), and Sansa is also dead to the world, so she puts her to bed.

Everyone else proceeds on putting presents under the tree and remove biscuits from the windowsill (they don’t have a chimney so Robb got creative), then she figures that they have enough space and tells Benjen to take the couch while Edmure can have the cot in their room and her uncle and the  _other_  Jon can share the one double in the guest room. They don’t refuse.

She’s almost thinking that Robb and Jon might have been right about those two liking each other.

–-

The next morning, she wakes up when she hears Robb screaming from the other room, so it’s a bit later than her usual. She drags herself out of bed to find people opening presents all over the living room. Robb looks delighted with the Star Wars shirt and has barely glanced at the rest, including whatever fancy thing Brandon sent over, so she figures that her brother can pick presents well -

And then she notices Jon staring at a medium-sized package wrapped in  _black_  paper, damn but Edmure did take her seriously, and frantically checking that he didn’t read it wrong and it’s really addressed to him.

She kind of wants to cry when he quietly walks up to  _the other_  Jon and Edmure, who had signed the tag, and asks if maybe they got mixed up and it’s for  _him_.

“As much as it’s been a pleasure to know  _him_  yesterday,” Edmure says, admirably faking cheerfulness, “we hadn’t met before so I couldn’t have bought  _him_  a present, right?”

“But you hadn’t met me either,” Jon protests.

“Well,  _you_  live with his sister,  _I_  don’t,” his namesake says. “No, it’s definitely yours.”

“You didn’t have to get me anything,” Jon keeps on saying. Robb is looking at the scene now, after having switched whatever he was wearing for the Star Wars shirt, but he’s not butting in.

“There’s a lot of things I don’t  _have_  to do,” Edmure shrugs. “So, are you opening it or are you going to let Robb have the honors? Because I’m not so sure it’s  _his_  thing. Never mind that I don’t think he likes black much.”

“Of course not,” Robb confirms, not moving an inch and going back to pretending to care about Lysa’s present, which is some book he definitely doesn’t seem to care for.

Jon looks moderately convinced and tears open the wrapping paper. Cat moves closer to check what Edmure cooked up and - it’s a VHS, for some  _Nightmare Before Christmas_  movie she’s never heard of in her life  _but_ … given that on the cover there’s a skeleton and what looks like a rag doll and it  _definitely_  doesn’t look like standard Disney stuff,  _maybe_  she can guess why Edmure thought it was a good idea.

Jon checks the back with the face of someone who’s not quite sure he’s actually not dreaming whatever it is he’s doing and then his eyes light up as he reads the plot on the back. “This - this looks so cool,” he finally says, and good thing that Robb has turned his back on him and proceeded to keep up the noise on the other side of the room where Sansa is about to faint over the inane number of Barbie dolls she got. He probably knows that if everyone just stops doing whatever it was they were busy at and focus on Jon only he might not take it too well. Cat pretends to stare down at her tea and instead decides that yes, Jon isn’t being polite or faking it, he genuinely looks delighted at that, and she figures they’re in for a long while of watching-the-skeleton-movie-all-day, but then again, it can’t be worse than that month Robb  _only_  wanted to watch  _The Sword in the Stone_.

“Oh, good, then I guess my presents game is still strong,” Edmure grins, looking very pleased with himself. “And by the way, I don’t know if my sister made it clear, but I  _do_  buy presents for people I’m related to unless we argued horribly or I hate them. Do you remember you and I arguing horribly lately?”

“… No?”

“There you go then,” Edmure says, with a nonchalance Cat envies him, and for a moment she thinks Jon’s going to start crying for how wet his eyes are (in the good way, though), but then he doesn’t and he merely just wipes at them and says thank you so politely it would be cute if she didn’t know  _why_  he’s like that.

“You’re welcome,” Edmure replies, and Jon miraculously  _doesn’t_  flinch when Edmure leans down to mess up his dark curls, this while Robb is looking very satisfied at how the entire thing is going down while preventing his sister from dying in frustration over not being able to get one of the doll boxes open.

_Ned_  looks like he could cry, though. She smiles at him across the room as she drinks her tea and moves her hand over her stomach and thinks,  _maybe someone did hear me indeed after all_.

For being the first Christmas they spent together, after all, it couldn’t have gone better.

(Also, she  _definitely_  needs to have her brother around more often, and she’s sure he’ll be glad to hear it later.)


	6. jonc/brynden tully plus past jonc/r, backstory + tooth-rotting fluff honestly

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was for anon who asked for redfish with _in awe, the first time you realised it_ for the *I love you* said-in-different-ways meme from chapter one. I OBLIGE. ;) have my crackship of doom. u__u

Fact is: Jon isn’t the person who lets go of things easily. That’s not something he  _doesn’t_  know. He’s  _painfully_  aware of it. It took him years to come to terms with his feelings and be at peace with the fact that they’d never be returned, it took him some  _more_  years to  _try_  to let them go when he decided that maybe, just maybe, moving on with his life might have been a good idea.

But in the mist of it, he thinks he’s missed a fair amount of - what people call excitement of youth, he supposes. It’s not that he’s  _old_ , gods, he’s going to be thirty in a year so that’s not it. But having spent his teenage years  _in love with Rhaegar_  he never actually pursued a relationship. He’s had his hook-ups, on his own and when  _both_  Rhaegar and Oberyn had decided that they should be his wingmen for those two months which he’s fairly sure he wants to forget most days and after, but it was always one night stands and not that many of them. And even when he decided that maybe, just maybe, it was time to try and put his feelings for Rhaegar aside for good and stop making his namesake godson look like he’s  _sorry_  for him (that time Jon blatantly lied to Rhaegar about having ruined one of his old Stone Temple Pilots t-shirts so that  _he_  could bring him home because even a five year-old could notice that he was  _still_  pining that badly was one happening for the ages, he has always figured), he still - didn’t go looking. He wasn’t eighteen anymore, or twenty-one, and he figured he had somehow interiorized that  _if_  he ever managed to see someone else, it wouldn’t have been the kind of relationship where  _feelings_  are that much of a thing.

The thing is, if Jon had to envision someone with whom he could have the kind of whirlwind romance that sweeps off your feet that you always see in movies, well, that someone was Rhaegar Targaryen, who has never been a chance. And fine, when at twenty-five he decided he was  _indeed_  moving on, no one would have told  _him_  that he was too old for that kind of thing. But being in love with someone who can’t reciprocate for more than half of your life makes you feel old, if you let them go, when you can.

Which is why he hadn’t exactly - had  _expectations_  when Brynden Tully asked him out.

To be truthful, it was such a - such a damned  _single gay uncles_  or something kind of story that he figures the universe thought it was hilarious. He doesn’t know how it took them two years after  _the other_ Jon moved in with Ned and Cat for them to cross paths. It was - actually fairly damn mundane.  _Jon_  had spent the weekend with him and they had come back on Sunday afternoon. Ned and Cat were out but  _her uncle_  was there to keep an eye on Robb. They had started talking shop while the kids ran off to Robb’s room. It turned out that Cat’s uncle was actually in his very late thirties, that he  _also_  was exclusively into men and that he looked - well,  _attractive_ , in the way someone who wasn’t Rhaegar and didn’t look like him at all could be to Jon. They had met again on and off, always while dropping kids off. They did talk some more. After six months of meeting on and off, Brynden asked if he wanted to go get a drink together, no obligations whatsoever.

Thing is - having more less known the guy that long, Jon had said yes without even thinking about it. If he hadn’t, he might have not. But he knows he’s a straight-up wholly decent guy with a streak of sarcasm that he can appreciate a whole lot, and they’ve hit off fairly nicely for the circumstances, so - why not?

Then they had drinks again. And again. Not that Jon had  _expectations_  about it, but it was -  _nice_. Somehow, going out with someone who also had to their admission lost their taste for  _exciting_  relationships made it way easier.

(Never mind that getting laid regularly might have done a few things to improve his mood, but that’s neither here nor there.)

And the fact  _right now_ , is that it’s been two years and something and they’re - still nowhere near done, Jon thinks. Every time he tells  _his_  friends about how it’s going - they’re all damn nosy, but then again after all it’s the first time Jon’s actually in a proper relationship somewhat, so - they always say  _god but you sound such like a boring old couple, the most exciting thing you seem to do is going to movie marathons on weekends if you don’t attend one concert every two months_. Which - it’s true, more or less. But it’s not  _bad_. 

Hell, the hilarious thing is that they’re fucking  _complementary_. They’re not living together -  _yet_ , even if Jon has a feeling that one of these days one of them might bring the topic up given that each of them has clothes in the other’s closet - but they never had to argue about anything when they share space. Jon hates cooking and Brynden hates cleaning so fine, if someone was offering dinner at their place they had it worked out. He’s fairly decent at laundry, Brynden’s terrible at ironing, same story. If they don’t necessarily like the same movies they certainly  _dislike_  the same ones, so they never argued once about that. They’ve been to a fair number of gigs and neither of them  _loves_  what the other’s into but they  _like_  it well-enough to want to go with. He’s fallen straight into the most mundane relationship in existence, he thinks, with a number of exceptions that have kept it from getting stale

(honestly, that time they went to see Alkaline Trio because Jon  _likes_  that band and the ended up turned on enough that they had to run to the damned  _public bathroom_  to get each other off was the most risky, but it’s not like they’re damned monks or puritans)

and considering that two years ago he couldn’t even see himself in a  _relationship_ , he’s not quite sure of how he got there so seamlessly.

It’s probably ironic that he’s pondering this entire matter while he’s fucking  _washing the dishes_. Talk about mundanity.

“Hey, you all right?”

“Uh, yeah. Why?”

“Because it’s the two of us, you’ve been washing those dishes for the last ten minutes and you’re usually done in five.”

… Well,  _damn_ , he really spent this long holding the plate under the water? He’s really over in his head. He shrugs, cleans it quickly - good thing it was the last one. He puts it on the rack, then cleans his hands. 

“Sorry, I was just - lost in thought, I guess.”

“Nothing bad, I suppose?”

“No, far from it. Wait, do I really wash the dishes in five minutes?”

“ _That_  amount of dishes you usually wash in  _four_ , but close enough. What? It takes me ages to do it and you always are done in a moment, once I might have timed it.”

In dumb romantic comedies,  _usually_ , there’s that moment when People Realize The Full Scope Of Their Feelings which is most times something - peculiar, Jon assumes. Out of the ordinary. Sure as hell normal people don’t run through airports in order to stop their significant others from leaving forever or whatever.

Stands to reason that Jon has his own when he finds out that the guy he’s been dating for two years and some actually fucking knows how long it takes him to wash the dishes.

He’s also probably stayed silent for too long because now Brynden looks kind of concerned.

“Jon? Something wrong? Because you’re not looking -”

“No, I’m - I’m fine. It’s just, I might - we’ve been doing this a couple years now, haven’t we?”

“As long as you aren’t like Robb and you think that we started  _dating_  that first time we met.”

“Wait, Robb thinks  _that_?”

“Robb and  _his brother_  think that. By the way, according to Cat they were all fairly ecstatic that according to  _them_  we had dating potential. Or something.”

“… Well then,” Jon mutters. “Anyway, no I’m not like - Robb. It’s just that - I hadn’t quite realized it had been this long.”

“Is this some sort of break up speech?” Brynden’s laughing as he says it, though, so Jon doesn’t even bother pretending to be angry.

“Shut up,  _no_. It’s just - weird. Listen, I spent some fifteen years in love with one single person who was never going to reciprocate and then I just told myself that I wasn’t glamour enough for fancy relationships, cut me some slack. But no, like hell it’s a break up speech, not when I -”

He suddenly realizes what he’s going to say and he stops in his tracks, because -

because he hadn’t even  _thought_  about it and he hadn’t even thought he’d ever say it to someone who wasn’t Rhaegar, except that - it’s not what he felt for him at all and at the same time it  _still_  applies, hell if it does, and - shit. Shit, he doesn’t know if he’ll start laughing hysterically before he can actually say it.

“If you’re about to say you want me to move here, forget it. My place is bigger and this building is terrible, if anything the contrary, but pretend I didn’t say it since I was going to ask you in a better moment.”

Jon  _might_  really laugh hysterically at that. Oh  _damn_ , not only he has just had  _the_  realization, now there’s also  _this_ , and good thing he thinks he’s been mentally ready for a while.

“I’ll pretend,” he finally wheezes, trying to sound like he’s not on the verge of hyperventilation. “Then when you do ask you can pretend you didn’t know I’d say yes, but that wasn’t what I was going to say.”

“All right, duly noted. And what was it that you were going to say?”

“Well. It’s something I only ever told Rhaegar. And I always assumed I’d never tell anyone else. Looks like I was dead wrong.”

“That you’ve only told - _wait a moment_  -”

Jon breathes in.

Somehow, when that godforsaken  _I love you_  leaves his mouth, he doesn’t sound as if he’s about to hyperventilate at all. Maybe he does sound a little bit in awe of himself. He also does sound like he entirely means it.

He wasn’t expecting to hear it back. And maybe wholly  _mundane_ couples do not end up celebrating that kind of revelation on the kitchen table - good thing it’s sturdy.

Jon is quite sure that all things considered, he’s never been happier that he did, in fact, completely move on with his life.


	7. jon/ygritte + robb & the other starks, their first son looks like rhaegar

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> last one (for now ;) ), written for an anon who wanted _I am prompting modern au with Ygritte giving birth to a baby that looks more like R than anyone else and everyone's reactions to that xD_. THIS IS THE MOST RIDICULOUS FLUFF THAT EVER FLUFFED EVEN MORE THAN THE PREVIOUS STUFF HAVE FUN and merry christmas guys I'll have two more exchange fics up in the next few days ;)

The good news is: out of all the things Jon worried about for the last nine months,  _none_  of them actually came to pass. Ygritte is perfectly fine, the birth went without a hitch, she’s boasting that she didn’t even spend that much time in labor and she looks  _radiant_  as she holds the baby to her chest, her hair tied back for once.

The news he doesn’t know how to take is that  _genetics are fucking weird_.

Ygritte looks up at him, then at the baby again, smirking. “Are you still sure about the name? Because if you think that it’d be more suited -”

“ _No_ ,” Jon replies at once, bringing her the glass of water she asked for and sitting on the side of the bed again. Fuck, the moment realization kicks in and he  _full-on_  realizes that the tiny bundle in her arms is half  _his_  he’s going to do something very embarrassing. Sure as hell Ygritte has taken being pregnant a lot more nonchalantly than  _he_  did - she teased him for months about having read more books on the topic than  _she_  ever cared to and look at how well she’s doing. Now he’s still sort of taking it in, especially since he was expecting to be at the hospital for  _days_  and so he told everyone else to come in later and instead it was over in three hours.

But the main thing is that - well. He had figured that any kid they’d have might look like him, dominant genes and everything. At most, they might get Ygritte’s hair or eyes.

Sure as heck he hadn’t imagined that instead his firstborn would be proof of how strong can recessive genes be when they want to, because he has  _violet eyes and pale blonde hair_.

Same as his biological father. Given that most people on that side of the family are  _all_  like that also because they stopped marrying in between cousins three generations ago, it’s a testament to those genes’s strength, seriously.

“I mean, we get along and I love him and everything, regardless of what it took to get there, but I’m  _not_  naming any of my kids after him or that side of the family. Period.”

Ygritte shrugs. “Well, that was just to see if you hadn’t changed your mind. After all, this one is  _your_  territory.” She smirks - they had agreed that she’d pick the name if it was a girl and he would if it was a boy given that neither of them  _hated_  the picked name, so she’s not giving him a hard time over that. Also, she  _had_  liked his first pick, when he told her what he was thinking of. “Are we going for the first choice then?”

Admittedly, Jon had  _sort of_  hoped that if it was a boy he might have red hair, because it would have worked well with the name he was thinking of. But - that’d really be unfair not to go for it now.

“Yes. I mean - the first five years of my life were a nightmare because I didn’t look like  _that_  enough for most of my relatives, I’d never go back on that just because genetics are  _weird_  and he doesn’t look like me. Or  _him_ , for that matter.”

Ygritte looks about to say something, and then the nurse comes in.

“Sorry to disturb you,” she says, “but I wanted to tell you that if you want to register the birth, there’s an office downstairs and you can go before the lady here leaves. Other than that, which name should we put on the outside so your relatives can find you? Stark, and?”

Ygritte smirks. “You tell her.”

“Sure. Robb. Robb Stark.”

–-

His parents are the first one to arrive.

Cat  _immediately_  goes and takes a good look at  _Robb_  before declaring the baby  _absolutely adorable_  and proceeding to go all ‘I’ve been wanting to be a grandmother for years and now it’s my moment’ on the kid, not that Jon minds. Ned looks somewhat surprised at the baby’s looks, and then moves closer to Jon and speaks under his breath.

“When are you going to tell  _them_?” He says. “Because you  _know_  that the moment people know you’re going to find long-lost cousins of Rhaegar’s wanting to come to the baptism.”

“Good thing there’s no baptism happening,” Jon says. Ned snorts.

“He’s adorable, though. Should I tell Robb before -”

“Absolutely  _not_ , I want him to find out for himself.”

Ned snorts and nods before reaching Cat - well, there’s two people who’ll be way better grandparents than his own ever was.

-–

“Jon, you haven’t told -”

“Robb is getting here when he is, and no you’re  _not_  texting him, all right? He had no clue that I wanted to do it and that’s how I want it to be.”

“You’re weird,” Arya declares.

“No, it’s adorable,” Sansa says as she holds the baby herself - right,  _she’_ s definitely going to be the cool aunt who spoils him rotten. “And you weren’t around for - never mind. He has reasons, don’t you dare tell Robb. You  _or_  Bran.”

“Why aren’t you asking Rickon?”

“Because Rickon doesn’t have a cellphone and Theon’s bringing him later so he’s not here to do it.”

“By the way, why isn’t Robb here  _already_?”

“Because he was the last one at his PhD interview and he shouldn’t lose it when he doesn’t  _have_  to be here anyway.”

–-

Jon hadn’t wanted to, but he figures that he should probably get it out in the open before his biological relatives find out for themselves - he doesn’t mind about his  _aunt and uncle_ , god, but  _everyone else_  -

Good thing that  _neither_  is in the country right now. He takes a picture of his son and sends it to Rhaegar, making sure to point out how the name is and he adds that they can come visit whenever they’re back in town and if he please can tell Dany and Viserys, he’s too busy handling the other relatives. Which is fairly true, anyway.

In the next half hour, he gets replies. Rhaegar sends him a message written  _entirely in capslock_  and gushing about how beautiful he looks and actually he’ll show Aegon because they look so much alike, and everyone from the family says hi (they’re on a cruise on vacation) and the only part that’s not in capslock is the one about how he’ll give them tips to take care of that hair when it’s time to.

That was relatively safe, Jon thinks as he opens Viserys’s message.

_Well, the gods of genetics were a lot nicer to him than to you. Don’t you dare washing that hair with something I don’t know of_.

… okay, Jon figures, given how their relationship has always been, that’s  _almost_  nice.

Dany’s arrives not long later.  _Oh my, he’s so beautiful! Give Ygritte my best wishes and make sure she’s doing all right, and if you need any tips for looking after that hair just ask, it’s so hard to take care of!_

At least  _one_  of his Targaryen relatives is a sane person, Jon decides, but seriously? This baby’s not even  _one day_  old and they’re worrying about the hair?

He’ll disagree with Viserys - he’s plenty fine with  _his_  own genetics, thanks.

–-

Theon drops by bringing Rickon along a while later - Rickon looks absolutely  _ecstatic_  at having a nephew who’s also named like Robb, which is endearing to watch really. Theon looks at the name outside the door, laughs for a good two minutes and gives Jon a frankly almost painful pat on the back.

“He’s going to freak out,” he proclaims. “Not that it’s a surprise.”

“It’s - not?”

“Come on, you weren’t going to name anyone after  _that_  side of the family and naming him like his grandfather over there would have seriously felt weird. Also you think I don’t remember when you joined the family? I was friends with Robb already. Not a surprise at all.”

Theon smirks and doesn’t add anything else, and Jon figures that if he  _isn’t_  being an ass just because he can, then he’s not gonna look at a gift horse in the mouth. He’s also kind of touched that Theon  _got_  it. Well then.

There’s just one person left.

–-

Robb  _finally_  gets in at eight in the evening - Theon actually decided to play along with Jon’s game and went to get him at the hospital’s door so that he wouldn’t have to ask the name of the room and Jon could witness his reaction to finding out.

Jon needs to re-evaluate him one of these days.

Robb comes in with his tie stuffed in the pocket of the nice suit he had been wearing for the interview and the first few buttons of his shirt opened - he also looks like he’s ran the entire way here.

“Shit, sorry for being so late but I was the second to last being interviewed and then I had to come with the tube.”

“No one’s hurrying,” Jon says, trying to not laugh out loud. Ygritte is looking like she’s trying  _really_  hard to not just erupt down in giggles but she’s admirably trying. “Also, before you start asking the usual questions, it went so well the nurses were puzzled themselves.”

“That’s because I’m  _that_  awesome,” Ygritte declares. “Also, if you want to hold him already just ask.”

Robb blushes and takes the baby from her - Jon can’t help noticing that he’s  _good_  at it automatically but then he remembers that they both had  _four_  younger siblings and Robb was the regular Cat substitute for half of them. “Well,” Robb says, “I guess Rhaegar’s going to be in line to spoil him rotten.”

“Good thing that most of his relatives won’t be the moment they find out the name.”

“Right. Sorry, I’ve been up since dawn and I’m not thinking straight. How did you call him? I guess not Rhaegar.”

“How  _he_  named him,” Ygritte says, still smirking. “We agreed he’d get to name eventual boys and I’d get to name girls, next time is my turn I suppose.”

“Indeed, not Rhaegar.” Jon says, wanting to savor the moment. Robb is looking at him in expectation.

“Okay. So?”

“Robb.”

“Sorry?”

“… That’s  _the name_ , I wasn’t asking you anything.”

Robb just  _stares_  at him, then down at his namesake, then at him again. The entire exchange is all Jon had hoped for it to be - he’s obviously speechless and he looks like he can’t believe Jon  _really_  did that.

Well, guess what, he did. “You - you  _named_  your firstborn after  _me_?”

Jon smirks. “Couldn’t think of a better option.”

Robb takes a couple of steps forward as if he wants to do something, then remembers that whatever it was he can’t exactly  _drop a baby_  on the ground in order to do it. Ygritte is laughing openly, not that Jon had expected her to hold out that much longer.

“Theon?”

“Yeah?”

“You mind keeping him for a moment? I need a word with my brother here.”

“Sure. Don’t be too angry at him, it was worth it to see your face when you found out.”

“Traitor.” Robb hands the baby over and then nods towards the door - Jon gets it and follows him out. Robb closes the door and then Jon decides that maybe it’s time to take it seriously.

“For real,” Jon says, “maybe I should have told you but -”

“Jon?”

“Yes?”

“Shut up.” Then Robb is  _hugging_  him, damn it, and Jon hadn’t exactly expected it but he reciprocates at once, and it’s definitely  _not_  a rehash of the first time it ever happened when Jon couldn’t figure out what he was supposed to do. Not that he thinks about it often these days, or at all -

Which is also the reason why he never had a doubt on how he’d name an eventual son if he ever had one.

“You know I’ll spoil that kid to embarrassing degrees, right?” Robb asks, without moving away.

“Sansa is already in line. God, I’m going to have to be the not-fun parent, will I?”

“Shut up, fun or not you’re going to be great.” And he sounds so  _sure_  as he says it, Jon is way past touched at this point.

“I’ll try,” he settles on, and decides that maybe he can stay like this for a little bit longer.

And it  _definitely_  was worth it to have Robb waiting that long to find out.


End file.
